There are some rights that Republicans and their Tea Party supporters just won’t tolerate among American workers.

Collective bargaining rights seem to be one of them.  And that’s about the only thing that the fight in Madison, Wisconsin, is all about.  By now, it’s settled and documented that Governor Scott Walker is out to break the unions, not fix his state’s budget problems.

Moves are afoot in other states where there are Republican governors, including Indiana, Ohio, and New Jersey.  There are sure to be others who will jump on the bandwagon and try to remove the right of workers to collectively bargain for their wages, benefits, and working conditions.  Just over this past weekend, Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas and purported presidential candidate next year, was bragging in a C-Span interview that he is up for an attack on public workers and in fact mentioned his combat with their unions as governor in his latest book. 

The laws that give Americans those rights stick in the craw of so many of the country’s wealthy elite and their minions in politics.  It has been reported widely in recent days how closely Walker is connected to the filthy rich Koch brothers, big funders of the Tea Party and other right wing entities.

There’s just one hitch:  the assault on American workers and their unions is in violation of at least two international agreements…the 1949 convention on the right to organize and bargain collectively and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  There may be others, but these will do for now.

The U.S. signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and was the principal mover of the idea and the writing of the document.  It clearly upholds the right of workers to freely associate (to form labor unions, for example) and to collectively bargain for their wages, benefits, and working conditions.  Whether the U.S. ever signed the 1949 convention or not, what is contained in it is what the U.S. government pledged to uphold in the UDHR.

Either way, what the Republicans are attempting to do to American workers is in violation of international agreements, which amount to violations of the law by the GOP, wherever they are attempting to abolish those rights.  The conventions, declarations, and agreements, whatever form they take, do not distinguish between public worker unions and private sector unions.  They apply to all workers and all unions and they are unequivocal. 

What Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin from Koch Industries, is attempting to do in his state (remove collective bargaining rights for certain public workers) is under consideration in other states that have Republican governors.  He is in violation of international and American law, since we take these international agreements seriously enough give them the force of law.

As soon as possible, a coalition of public and private unions in Wisconsin should join to formally lodge a complaint with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) that the U.S. is allowing one of its states to break its unions, although President Obama mildly criticized what is happening in Wisconsin.

For a long time, it has been known that, when an authoritarian government assumes or seizes power in a country, the first thing that they go after is the trade unions, to destroy them, since the unions represent a natural barrier to oppressive measures and they could provide the heart of an opposition movement.

This is what we’re seeing in Wisconsin.  This is what’s happening in the United States of America.  Democrats and Republicans have spoken about the rights of the people in Libya to freely associate and be free of the oppressive 42-year rule of Muammar Gaddafi and to take control of their own country, they were supporting the rights expressed in the UDHR and the convention of 1949.  (At press time, the Obama Administration was considering a “no fly zone” over Libya).  But so far, we haven’t heard much from Democrats on the question of eliminating collective bargaining rights for public workers.  Implicit in the threat of the GOP is that they will come after the private sector unions after they have finished off the public worker unions.

Walker and those who think like him have set this nation on a very dangerous path.  In the context of the community of nations (and, like it or not, the U.S. is a part of that community), the U.S. is set to violate principles, agreements, declarations, and laws that were agreed upon decades ago. 

The ILO has said, “The freedoms to associate and to bargain collectively are fundamental rights…Their core value has been reaffirmed by the international community, notably at the 1995 World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen and in the 1998 ILO Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

“The exercise of the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining requires a conducive and enabling environment. A legislative framework providing the necessary protections and guarantees, institutions to facilitate collective bargaining and address possible conflicts, efficient labor administrations and, very importantly, strong and effective workers’ and employers’ organizations, are the main elements of a conducive environment. The role of governments in providing for an enabling environment is of paramount importance.”

This last sentence is crucial.  Who’d think that Americans would need reminding that government’s role is vital to the furtherance of workers’ rights, especially in the realm of work.  It is only a short distance from ensuring rights at work, to ensuring voting rights in a democratic society.  It’s all part of the same package.

Several United Nations international instruments establish the following worker rights, which apply to all workers in a country, including non-citizens with or without governmental permission to work:  a safe and healthful workplace, compensation for workplace injuries and illnesses, freedom of association and the right to form trade unions and bargain collectively, and equality of conditions and rights for immigrant workers.  The United States government has committed itself to protecting these rights. It was a principal author, sponsor, and signer of the Universal Declaration. 

The official governmental assault on American workers and their unions continues and grows more serious.  Just in the past few days, it has been reported that Providence, Rhode Island, has fired all of the teachers in the city system, apparently planning to rehire them at much lower rates of pay and with few or no benefits (similar to what sweatshop countries are known for).  This, too, is a flagrant violation of international agreement and American law.  An appeal to the ILO (a tripartite organization involving labor, business, and government) should be lodged immediately in this case, as well.

According to the ILO, it “treats workers' freedom of association as the bedrock right on which all others rest. This right includes workers' efforts at organization and association in the workplace and in the larger society through democratic participation in civic affairs. It includes the right to bargain collectively with employers and the right to strike.”

The United States has said repeatedly (but not too loudly) that it stands for the rights of “the people” and the workers in other countries, under the authority of these UN and ILO instruments, but it can’t seem to publicly support American workers and their unions in the same way.

Considering the attitude toward international agreements that is held by the GOP and others on the right and far right, a formal charge lodged by American unions against their government and capitalist enterprises might have a hard time getting a full hearing, because of the great power of U.S. corporation and the government in quashing that kind of hearing.  But, such a formal charge or charges might, at the least, start a discussion among Americans who work for wages.  Most, we can be sure, never heard of internationally recognized labor rights and likely never would have believed that America and its government might be in violation of those laws.

There’s no time to waste in filing complaints.  At the least, it will force American government at every level to show how, or if, in the matter of worker protections, it can distinguish itself from countries like Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, China, Iran, or Libya.   

BlackCommentator.com Columnist, John Funiciello, is a labor organizer and former union organizer. His union work started when he became a local president of The Newspaper Guild in the early 1970s. He was a reporter for 14 years for newspapers in New York State. In addition to labor work, he is organizing family farmers as they struggle to stay on the land under enormous pressure from factory food producers and land developers. Click here to contact Mr. Funiciello.